Yesteryears new weight class, new title small hall brawls equal todays hyped mega fights

I was watching an obscure boxing match today, as I normally can be found doing.... Today I was watching a super middleweight title bout from a time when the division was in it's infancy, 1984 to be exact, as the brand new IBF Super middleweight title was defended for the very first time as South Korea's power punching, body snatching Chong-Pal Park took on gritty and experienced boxer/puncher Murray Sutherland. The bout' was scheduled for 15. (Can you believe it? Reducing the 15 round limit to 12 took year to fully implement I see.)

Now during this bout I had an honest epiphany, in that some superficial ways this fight very much reminded me of the supposed mega fight that took place last year between Golovkin and Saul Alvarez. I'll let you decide whether there's any actual comparisons to be made on any level of if I am indeed literally insane.

Part of my ugly realization was this... I could not find any more excitement in the Golovkin/Alvarez fight when it occurred than I did in this fight. Quite frankly, it was a solid enough fight, but in my opinion sticks out like a sore thumb when discussing any actual great fights that may have occurred this year.

Basically, one of if not the biggest fight of the years is, in my opinion, not any more riveting than an obscure fight in a brand new weight division for a brand new title that barely anyone, anywhere, has ever seen. It occurred in some small hall in Korea someplace. That says something about the quality of the sport to be completely honest, and with as much over thinking as I can I might just keep complaining about it.

Anyway, before I rattle any more here's the fight. I always loved watching the explosive, hard hitting body attack of Park, but he could be brittle and defensively incompetent. Still, what an exciting fighter. Enjoy!

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Have to respect the guys that helped make up the foundation of super middleweight in the beginning and helped it become the weight division it is, which is at the moment a great one. Funny enough two Korean bangers occupied the weight at around the same time and eventually fought... Chong-Pal Park and the naturally smaller In Chul Baek, who only fought at the weight a few times later in his career.

Very interesting fighters that I've been considering make a complication or respect video of sorts for, but I'm afraid they'll be doomed to be viewed 15 times a year on youtube, basically completely forgotten.

 

I won't argue that Golovkin/Alvarez operated at a highly skill level than this particular bout... but that didn't make it more exciting. In my opinion neither GGG or Canelo gave of themselves like these two did and quite frankly, that's the exact thing we are here to see.

A South Korean ref lets the away guy/challenger rise four separate times from knockdowns and gives him every chance, instead of waving it off like they would do in say the modern matchmaking system they have set up in the UK, which quite frankly puts a hair straight across my ass...

 

Not a lot of activity boxing wise in that part of the world now, as far as I know. You had the likes of Myung Woo Yuh in the 80's/90's but as for modern Korean fighters the only one that comes to mind is Ji Hoon Kim... Who was actually a super exciting, face first brawler with no defense.

 

This is a 4 or 5 knockdown fight, it's actually a ton of fun. Both guys are pretty knackered and beat up by the end. Definitely deserves a little more love than it gets. Park was a seemingly fragile but he brought some seriously heavy hands to the ring and a crippling body attack you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. Could could he dig.

 

He was one of the last of the mohicans in regards to 15 round fights... he was fighting them as late as 87 and actually had two stoppages in the 15th in IBF title fights.

Watching him fight, he's really almost all offense, with a touch of rough "savvy" of a sort. He took rematches against men that KO'ed him more than once, and in once case avenged it with a KO of his own. A tough fighter, you can see the damage around his eyes nearing the end of the Sutherland bout and he's still as game as they come, throwing bombs.

Enjoy the fight?